The present invention relates to the harvesting of sugarcane and, in particular, to methods and apparatus for mechanically cutting and defoliating sugarcane stalks in the field.
A common source of sugar is sugarcane stalks which are grown in rows in the field and contain therethroughout an inner pithy material from which sugar juices are extracted. Sugarcane stalks also contain a substantial quantity of leafy foliage on the exterior which must be removed prior to processing of the stalks.
Harvesting of sugarcane stalks has traditionally been accomplished by manual labor. In particular, it has heretofore been the practice to burn the unwanted foliage from the stalks while the stalks are standing in the field, and then chopping the stalks at their base. Such a practice, besides fouling the environment, may end to dry the stalks and reduce the sugar juice yield. Accordingly, mechanical harvesting has been heretofore proposed in which the cane stalks are to be mechanically cut and separated from the foliage absent the burning step, as evidenced by the disclosures of U.S. Pat. No. 928,149 issued to Peters on July 13, 1909, U.S. Pat. No. 1,118,636 issued to Cockrell on Nov. 24, 1914, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,969 issued to Shunichi on Dec. 16, 1975. However, the harvesters proposed in those patents have not been commercially successful.
In that regard, it is desirable that a harvester be capable of rapidly traversing a row of stalks while harvesting cane stalks which are inclined or upright, as well as incorporate as few mechanical components as possible. In one previous proposal (e.g., see the above referenced Shunichi patent), a harvester is to cut the stalks at their base, and engage the cut stalks with horizontal feed rollers disposed at a distance behind the cutters, which rollers feed the stalks rearwardly and upwardly to horizontal against the sides of the stalk to remove foliage. It will be appreciated that such a proposal involves an undesirably large quantity of mechanical components occupying a relatively long span. Also, the use of horizontal rollers involves problems due to the need to align the vertical stalks with the feed path defined by such rollers. This can be particularly difficult since the stalks are usually oriented at various inclinations relative to vertical.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to minimize or obviate problems of the type discussed above.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel cane harvester.
It is another object of the invention to enable sugarcane stalks to be mechanically harvested and defoliated in a rapid manner by a simplified mechanism.
It is a further object of the invention to enable sugarcane stalks to be harvested in either upright or inclined positions.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel stalk conveyor which removes residual trash.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a novel ground support mechanism.